The WIP #48: Mattress Head
The Week in Photos (23-29 November 2024)
Meaning is not found, it is generated. One connection leads to another, you just have to commit. Today (Saturday 30 November 2024) one of my photographs is being exhibited at Agitate Gallery in Edinburgh as part of a project to encourage people, like me, who have never had anything printed before. It was really hard to choose which one to submit, but the photo I chose has a similar vibe to this image — another man who has lost his head.
There was snow last Saturday so no parkrun. Instead, I cycled through the slush to Tramway to see the Maud Sulter show that had opened the night before.
The exhibition looks amazing and uses the space well, but I can’t help but feel it does a disservice to Sulter’s photographs by repurposing them so brazenly in projections, blown up on boards, and even printed on diaphanous sheets. Once someone’s dead, who gets to decide what happens to the work?
On Sunday, I walked to the Barras market, one of my favourite places in Glasgow. I spotted the Sgàire Wood billboard, which appears to be a way of using advertising space for art. Presumably so that people pay more attention to billboards.
At the market I found an exhibiton of items stolen from workplaces curated by Sophie Stewart and Richard D. Ehlert. Each item had a short text explaining how the artist ended up stealing it—from rebelling against exploitation to boredom. I found myself hating the idea of celebrating crime and asked this guy if he had ever stolen anything. “Never,” he replied decisively. What a great and provcative concept for a show.
Johnny Rodger has a new book out.- his 20th! Despite costing £45 (£90 RRP) it sold out on the night, such is the esteem with which he is held.
To the New Glasgow Society AGM on Wednesday. NGS does great work as a forum for discussing the city’s built environment. Here is Thierry with fellow Glasgow obsessive @thisismyglasgow.
Alas it meant I missed the readings at the launch of @contralytic, Glasgow’s premier philosophy & poetry magazine.
I have been thinking this week about the appeal of the local after immersing myself in The @tenementals brilliant album. More on this soon!